‘Greenleaf’ Season 3, Episode 5 Recap: “That’s Nature’s Way”

This week, there’s more trouble being thrown in the Greenleaf’s direction then they’re able to handle.

The IRS situation is not going away any time soon and just when Bishop (Keith David) thinks he has the situation under control and plans to get personal help from Ms Clara, she ups and tells them she’s not giving them the money. Her decision is causing more problems and bickering between Bishop and Mae (Lynn Whitfield) and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Mae wants to get in front of the problem and prepare the congregation for her takeover as head pastor. She wants Bishop to stop putting on a front for the congregation and their children, and just let everyone know they’re divorcing and she’s taking over the church when they do.

Bishop damn near laughs in her face when she tells him that but lets her know she can keep dreaming. She’ll get his church when hell freezes over, but she can feel free to her keep all the Tiffany jewelry and Chanel bags she’s racked up along the way. Ok, maybe he didn’t say it in those exact words. But he does shoot her down.

He doesn’t have time to go back and forth with Mae while he’s trying to live his best life and get the IRS off his back. He has to find another solution, and that solution rocks a short-pixie cut and goes by the name of Rochelle Cross (LeToya Luckett). Bishop knows she is the go-to person when you need some money so that’s exactly what he does – he goes to her.

But when he asks for her help, she turns him down cold. She tells him you can’t come looking for me asking me for my help when just the other day I was a thorn in your side that you couldn’t get rid of fast enough. Okay, that’s me exaggerating again. But, she does tell him no, and that he can’t play games with her. After making him sweat for a while, she sends him a text saying she was just angry but of course she’ll help him.

Mae’s not giving up on running Calvary without a fight. She goes to one of the church leaders, Ms. Connie, and tells her that she’ll be stepping up to run the church since this IRS scandal is becoming bigger by the day. Connie lets Mae know that the deacons have already sought out Grace (Merle Dandridge) for that spot. Of course, that doesn’t sit too well with Mae. She goes straight to Grace and tells her that she better not take that spot but Grace says she’s already turned it down.

But Grace rethinks her choice after a second chat with Connie. She doesn’t want to lose the church or see all that her family built die behind this IRS mess. But she’s not willing to take over without seeing a real change in how Calvary responds to “non-traditional” church members.

But Grace has bigger and scarier concerns on her plate after getting a phone call that Sophia (Desiree Ross) has been rushed to the hospital. That unbearable pain Sophia’s been having in her stomach turns out to be an ovarian torsion requiring IMMEDIATE surgery.

The whole family rushes to the hospital to be by her side. Thankfully, it’s not cancer and the doctor says the cysts growing on her uterus are benign BUT…they have to remove her ovaries anyway. Now the poor baby won’t be able to have children of her own in the future and quite naturally, she’s distraught.

Charity (Deborah Joy Winans) is distraught, too but not because of Sophia. She has her own mess that needs medical attention. After her arrest, she’s spiraling into what looks like a depression. She pops a couple of pain pills she has leftover f Nathan’s birth. So now she’s a head case at the hospital. She can’t console her sister Grace because she’s too busy slurring her words and talking all loud. Everyone thinks she’s been drinking. But after she attacks a vending machine for holding back her candy bar, everyone now knows – it’s pills. She punches straight through the glass to get her candy and cuts up her hands. Now she needs stitches.

Rochelle is getting around. She’s weaseling her way into Jacob’s (Lamman Rucker) affairs over at Triumph. She gives Tasha (Asia’h Epperson) some legal documents that she wants Jacob to sign that gives her consent to open a bank account for his “Real Church” from last season. Tasha gets him to sign it, but has regrets. I predict she won’t even give the papers to Rochelle, but we’ll see.

Jacob really gets in her head and her heart when he refers to her as family.

Bad girl Zora (Lovie Simone) is trying to get comfortable at her grandparents’ home but, reading the Bible and having to look Sophia in her face everyday doesn’t seem to be helping the process. Who knows what’s next for this little girl in need of some guidance and direction from a grandmother whose focus is elsewhere these days? I guess we’ll find out soon.

Wanda J. Coppage is a full -time Music Director at an Urban AC radio station, journalist and proud Virginia State University alum – Go Trojans! As a music enthusiast who can’t go a day without hearing R&B/Soul or Classic Hip Hop as well as a TV passionista, why not live a life that covers both?